The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-09-21

Yes, sir, they are fully as honest as the
white men" There are about two thou
sand Indians on the reservation, and they
are now self-sustaining and orderly, and
many of them are hard workers The two
policemen of the little town are Indians
AT the fort are about one hundred soldiers,
who were placed there few years ago TO
protect the surrounding settlers from the
Indians, but now they are kept there to
protect the Indians from the white sharpers.
The government provides men to instruct
the Indians in their farming and the
Mccormick Harvester Company have men
there teaching them how to manage self
binding harvester which they learn quite
readily, and are even able to repair simple
part when broken. We were told that an
Indian will not teach another what he has
been taught. He learns all he can and
keeps it. Many of the younger Indians are
able to speak English, but rarely do so, be-
cause the older ones Scorn them for 1t. We
got one young fellow alone, and he talked
well till he saw couple other Indians COM
ing towards us, after which all we could get
out of him was grunt.
The government supports there mission
school for the children Mr.. Palmer told
us that General Grant when president. to
be sure of honest management, placed some
of the schools under the management of
Quakers. The other denominations also
demanded recognition, and the result was
that most of these schools are now under
the management of some church denomina-
ton. This school fell to the Catholics. We
visited the school, but found it had finished
its work for the year just the day before
with public exercises, which we were told
were very creditable to the school, We
were really disappointed that we were
there one day too late. There are about
one hun lrcd children in the school All
but fifteen orphans had gone to their homes.
Two of these we heard play the organ well
Sister Franklin told us that the children
were compelled to attend the school, other
wise they would have no scholars; but they
seemed to enjoy it when accustomed to the
new ways. We found everything plain, but
neat, orderly and comfortable. The school
is surely a success, but we obtained the
| opinion that it was rather uphill work civ
| ilizing the young savages, the noble sisters
repeated assertions to the contrary notwith-
| standing.
We next visited the fort which we found
nearly vacant. Most of the soldiers were out
| hunting "a couple of their comrades who had
| taken themselves off without the captains
| permission the day before. We were secretly
| glad to learn that they had not been caught
! and probably could not be. A soldiers life
| in the United States army to-day is dreary
! one. They have absolutely nothing to do. A
fat Dutch bugler told us he had a " schoft
schnap." On the professors asking him
something about retiring on full pay, he re-
piled: Oh yes; in thirty years; but ex-
pect to be in haven or some other BANKED
port before that time" / could not help
thinking how much more the negroes would
profit by such assistance and instruction
and how much better returns this country
would get on its investment, and it seems
to me that this country owes them surely
not less than they owe the Indians
Wednesday afternoon we boarded the
little steamer Minnie H.. and had a most
enjoyable ride of sixteen miles across Devil S
lake. This lake is similar to Lake Cham
pain--not quite so long, but about the same
width; more irregular has deeper and larger
bays; is surrounded by hills and forests and
contains many small islands. The captain
of our boat also its owner, told us he had
| put S420 600 into his two little steamers.
One was idle all the time and the other
made the trip between Devils Lake City
and Fort Totten daily. He had aboard five
passengers on our trip up and four back
the next day. The fare is one dollar.
Another victim of the boomer" The lake
is beauty, and some time will be much
visited during the summer. Its equal does
not exist within several hundred miles. AT
five p. NJ we landed at DEVILS Lake City
bright active little town, full of business
and handsome women but of nothing else
especially interesting to the tourist, so we
boarded our little steamer on her return
trip the next morning at nine o'clock, and
arrived at Valley City at half-past ten P. NJ,
well pleased with our trip.
A VERMoNTER.